Apparatus for sorting punched cards with the help of feeler pins



- Apr 7 1- c. H. SiUN QBERG 1,799,186

APPARATUS FOR SORTING PUNCHED CARDS WITH THE HELP OF FEELER PINS Fil'ed July 24, 19 28 2 Shees-Sheet 1 C. #Au v n Aer April 7, '1931.

APPARATUS FOR SORTING PUNCHED CARDS WITH THE HEBP OF FEELER PINS C. H. STUIVENBERG Filed Jul 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 @uxol frvverv 72:

Patented Apr. 7, 1931 coeunus' nnnnnrcus srurvnnsnne, on AMSTERDAM, nn'rnnnnnnns; essrenoa mo NAAMLOOZE vrn noo rsoiser KAIJIAEEOfl-OEAMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS APPARATUS non sonrrnerononnn cents THE HELP or FEEDER PiNS Application filed Ju1y24,"1928,5eria1 no. 295,005, and'in'th'eNetherlanfi sl August; 10, 1927.

This invention relates to apparatusfor sorting punchedcards with the help ot'fe'eler pins, by means of which" the cards areoarrled from the place of analyzingto the sorting-boxes. The object of 's ehappamtus isto collect all cards, in which ina certain column-the hole has been punched;which corresponds to a certain'number.

Several systems are already known in which bothelectrically-and mechanically the result of the feeling operation is transferred by means of the -feeler pins to the movement of the deflectors which deflect the cards from their path to the sorting-boxes. The mechanical transfer of the feeling operation has the advantage of a much greater security of the operation so thatc'onsequ'ently m stakes resulting from paper insulation or an 1m perfect operation ofthe relays are avoided;

Although the electrical transfer necessitates the use of a continuous current, which is another drawback, it has, however, thegreat advantage of allowing aquicker operation, j i. e. greater speed and consequently the treatnient of a greater number ot'cards per time unit, as the card has not to discontinu'e' i'ts feeIerrollerS andftheguiding plate 9, which 1s providedwithslots 9a. Inthisposition'the movement for the feeling;operationfto' take place. Without the interruptlon, whlch hithertofwas necessary In the mechan cal trans fer, the card canbe guided fronrthe mage-E apparatus to the con- V are actuated by means of anendlessbelt'IQ, 7 According to the invention the transport zine through the feeler veyance'} apparatus.

of the card from the magazine through the 'feeler apparatus to the conveyance-appara tus canalsotake place without interruption, whenusing the me'chanlcal feel ng operation,

so that here besides the advantageofgreater security of operation the advantage of great speed is obtained, whilst also bym'eans of,

a considerable restriction of the movable parts the safety or Worlnng 1s increased and the apparatus becomes almost'noiseless;

In the drawings a constructional xample of-the apparatusaccording to the nvention" of the apparatus,

Figure 2 a View of the chain movement,

ing-ares a diagram for the transfer of the movementon theadj ustment of the-deflectors for the cards, v v

Figure 9 the toothed Wheels for the coupI-ing of' the shaft of the feeler roller with the transport rollers,

Figure 10 Lire-9.

card-magaZinejZ-iS placed, a series ofparallel slots 3 are provided-through which during a plan view accordingflto F ig- In a plate 'l of-the frame, on which the thefirbtation the feed-knives, (not shown) divided according to the slots *3, can move. These knives pusheacjh time the lowermost card so much in aforward direction that the latter comes between the rotating transportrollers 7, which guide the card between the cardis "within reachof the rotating press rollers 10, which"guideit without stoppage to the seies ot'transport rollers 11, which whichis mounted onthe feeler roller, so

that the card is guided'with a uniform speedpast the several sortingboxes 61', in which wlth the help of thedeflectors- 36, in a nian- I ner v hich"will* be' deseribed later on, the 1 cards are placed in accordance witht'he precise' position' ofthe hole inthe card.

By way of explanation it is pointed out that the apparatus must be adapted to sort according to twelve grades, as not only a sorting must 1 be possible 1 according to the num bers 'O9,but also according to the twelve months ofthe year. In connection herewith there are twelve sorting-boxes 61, and each series offeeler pins consists of twelve pins.

The feeleriroller 8 (Figure 3) consists of a cylinder,comprising a number of rods 44,-, lying -in longitudinal direction, which-by means of angle-pieces 46 are connected with the end plates of the feeler roller. Between the rods 44 the feeler pins 13 are arranged, which are pressed outward by means of springs. In consequence of the fact that the speed of the surface of the feeler roller determines also the speed of the movement of the cards, it is possible that, as is the case in the illustrated constructural example, the developed surface of the feeler roller represents a plurality of the dimensions of a card in the direction of its movement so that in the same proportion an equal number of twelve feeler pins must be present in the feeler roller. Between two successive series, however, a rod 44 of greater dimensions, is arranged, in accordance with the distance between two cards on their way to the sorting-boxes. According to the constructional example three series of feeler pins are provided, so that also three rods 44 of greater dimension are illustrated. It has been shown that it was unnecessary to provide for as many rods 44 as there are feeler pins.

The feeler pins themselves are arranged in radial direction (Figure 4) on a feeler disc 39, which is aflixed to the outer ring of a ball bearing 38 in the feeler roller, and of which the inner ring is connected with a nut 37, screwed on a threaded rod 41. The nut 37 is moreover provided with a bored hole for a guiding rod 40, which is fixed to both the end surfaces of the feeler roller.

In View of the fact that the rotation of the nut 37 is prevented by the guiding rod 40, the

rotation of the threaded rod 41 by means of a handle 42 projecting outside the apparatus can cause the forward pushing of the nut 37 with the ball bearing 38 and the feeler disc 39 in axial direction for the adjustment of the feeler disc to the column for which the feeling operation is desired. The thread on the rod 41 can be chosen in such a way that one rotation of the handle 42 corresponds to a displacement of the feeler disc over the distance between one column and the next. When the feeler roller rotates, the feeler disc runs along with the outer ring of the ball bearing, whilst the inner ring stands still.

A chain wheel 47 is furthermore attached to the feeler roller 8 (Figure 2) which consequently rotates together with the feeler roller and by means of which an endless chain 49, which is mounted on the disc 47 and a second disc 48 (Figure 1), is driven. Arms are attached to this chain 49 at intervals corresponding to the mutual distance of the cards during the movement along the feeler roller, so that an arm 50 accompanies every card. At the fixing point on the chain these arms are provided with springs 50a, which press arms permanently outwards, i. e. away from the chain. At its extremity each arm is provided with a pin 51 perpendicular to the t arm. These pins therefore are retained in outwardly projected positions as long as no obstacle is in their path. Such an obstacle,

however, is embodied in a guiding plate 28, arranged in the proximity of the chain disc 47 and of such shape that the pins 51 are always guided through an inclined slot 28a, provided between the guiding plate 28 and the starting points of the twelve guiding paths 29 (Figure 2), provided along the sorting boxes. As long as this slot is unobstructed the pins 51 will move freely through it and will be pressed again outwards, when leaving it. As will appear later on, the pins 51 are caused to move along one of the guiding paths 29.

Above the guiding plate 9 a vertically positioned toothed plate 14 is arranged, which is rotatable round a shaft 15. The plate 9 contains as many slots as there are columns on the card, through which slots the feeler pins 13 pass. The plate 14 is provided with as many teeth, which are arranged right above the slots of the plate 9. As it is desirable, namely to prevent damage to the holes in the cards, that the feeler pins do not project too far outwards, the teeth of the plate 14 must be arranged as near as possible to the plate 9. However, in order to make it possible to move the feeler pins freely, when there is no card in the apparatus, the plate 14 must be raised in such a case. This takes place by means of the arms 54, which clutch the shaft 15 of the plate 14 and which with the other end are each connected with jointed toothed plates 53, provided on each side of the feeler roller. The teeth of these plates engage with the teeth of plates 52 attached to the frame and between these two sets of teeth the card is guided before reaching and after leaving the feeler roller. As soon as a card leaves the magazine and passes between the first set of toothed plates 52, 53, the plate 53 is raised, so that the fork of the arm 54 connected therewith lowers the plate 14 and brings it, i. e. its teeth, within reach of the feeler pins. hen the card has passed the feeler roller it performs the same operation with the help of the second set of toothed plates 52, 53. Before a card has also passed this set of plates 52, 53 a next card has already come between the first set 52, 53, so that only when there is no card in the apparatus above the feeler roller are both sets 52,53 out of operation and the plate 14 is raised.

The plate 14 is arranged between two arms 16 (Figure 4), which are attached to an arm attached to a shaft 17 so that therefore the plate 14 can move freely up and downwards, whilst when a feeler pin strikes against the plate 14, it will rotate round a shaft 15, 1

whereby it strikes against one of the arms 16 and in this way slightly rotates the shaft 17 The rotation of the shaft is used for the adjustment of the movement for the card deflectors.

' spring 2511, rotates between thepins 23 and Theshaft17is-provided with an arm- 18 connected by a rod'19 with an angle-lever 20,

as a result of the rotation of 'plate 14 roundshaft 15, is moved in the direction'of a series of twelve pins 23, arrangedin a circular arc.

A disc 24, to which for each series of feeler pins 13 (in the-example therefore three) a block 25 is secured by means of a bladethe curved piece 21 along with the shaft of the feelerroller 8. The blocks are so-positioned thatduring the rotation of the disc 24a block isdispo'sed opposite the first of the group of pins 23 on the moment that the first feeler pin of the corresponding series moves past the plate 14'and the blocks are movable through openings 25b in the disc 24. On the circumference of the same disc andin the moving direction a pin 26 is, moreover, arranged behind each block 25.

Each pin 23 (Figures 6 and 7) is connected with a rotatable arm 27, which during the pressing-down of the"correspending pin 23 is rotated in such manner that its extremity is pushed in the manner of a lock or guiding arm in the slot between the guiding plate 28 and the twelve guiding paths- 29 (Figure 2) as is'illustrated in Figure 7 for one of the arms 27. Each pin 23 is, furthermore, provided with an offset piece 30 with a slanting curvedextremity 31, which at the pressingdown of the pin 23 coinesinto thepath ofthe pins 26.

In every guiding path 29 (Figure 8) there is-arranged almost at'the extremity an arnr 33 attached to a vertical shaft 32. To the other extremity of the shaft 32an arm-34 is connected, which is attached to the frame with a spring, whicharm is coupled by means of a string or cable, such as a Bowden wire,

with a deflector 36 of the corre'sponding sort- '4) to the column, on which the feeling operation (therefore also the sorting) must take place. In order to make it possible that (luring this displacement the feeler pins, which now move in the longitudinal direction of the.

feeler roller, can move freely and" clear of the guiding plate 9, which-is provided with slots, this plate is connected"with'a lever 56 (Figures 1' and 3) which is providedwith a" 55 of the lever56 so that the guiding plate 9,

is rotated in such manner that the feeler pins can freely pass to the position of next column which is reached after a full rotation of the handle 42, in which position the 1 roller 55 oflever 56 comes to rest again in the recess of the disc 57 and therefore the guiding plate 9 will be also again in the position of operation. This arrangement renders it possible to bring the disc with the'feeler pins into another'position even when the feeler roller is rotating.

During the passing of the card alongthe feeler roller a series of feeler pins runalso in such way that the first feeler pin comes into contact with the card on-the place in which the first hole of the column may be made, the

second feeler pin with the place for the sec- 0nd hole of the column, and so on. In case there is a hole in the card on the fifth place the fifth feeler pin will project through the hole in the card (in contradistin-ction to all the other feeler pins which are withheld'by means of the card) and will come into contact with the plate 14, i. c. with its-tooth, that corresponds to the feeler column. This plate 7 14 having been brought into its lowest post tion by means of the arms 54,0wing to the presence of the card, is carried along for a short space by the feeler p n in the direction of rotation, which owing to the movement of the shaft 17 causes also a rotation of the shaft 22 through the members 18 and 19. The re- 11 suiting movement of the curved plate 21in thedirection of the pins 23 causes' theblock 25, associated with the set of feeler pins 13 operating on the card passing through the machine, to be depressed at the moment it is opposite the fifth pin: 23. 7 When thefifth feeler pin 13 has passed the plate 14 the latter returns to normal position together withlever 22 and the blade-spring 25a, to which the block 25 is'affixed, brings it out ofconif; tact with thefollowing pins 23." The pushlengthening bar 30 connected thereto remain in this position so that when the firstoncoming pin 51, which with regard to time just runs behind the block 25,- passes through the slot,fthe arm 27 brought therein forces the pinto enter into the fifth guiding path and to continue therein the now following part of its path. When the block 25 has passed the last pin 23, the pin 26 belonging to this a block 25 pulls the pin 23 back owing to its movement alongthe slop-ing part ofthe offset piece 30, by which alsothe arm 27 in the slot is withdrawn;

As has been pointed out before, the pin 51 moves through the guiding path together with the card, which is guided along the sorting-b'oxes 61. A moment before pin 51 reaches the extremity of the guiding path, into which it is guided (hence in this example the fifth), the pin strikes against the arm 33, mounted therein, by which the shaft 32 (Figure 8) is rotated. This causes a pushing movement in the cable 35 connected with the corresponding (fifth) deflector 36. Hence the deflector is rotated so far that it comes in the path of the cards, formed by the transport-roller 11 and contra-rollers, so that by means of the rotated deflector the oncoming card does not reach the next transport-roller, but is guided downwards and drops into the desired (fifth) sorting-box 61, whilst immediately thereafter the deflector returns owing to the spring of the arm 34, so that the next card, which may be destined for a more remote sorting-box, can continue its course, till it reaches the deflector of this sorting-box.

It is desirable not to make the guiding paths 29 longer than necessary, i. e. to let them finish just beyond the place of the arms 33. This has namely the advantage that the next following pin 51, which moves through it, is able to move so much outwards till it strikes against the under-edge of the following guiding path. At the points where this path ends, the outside movement then follows against the next guiding path and so on. The result of this is that the pins instead of suddenly accomplishing the complete outside deviation at once, which would be especially considerable for the first sortingboxes, deviate by degrees and therefore gradually.

It is, moreover, unnecessary to continue the guiding paths 29 to the corresponding sorting-box 61. hen the chain discs 47 and 48 have smaller diameters than the feeler roller, as is illustrated in the drawing, the chain 49 moves slower in the same degree and the guiding paths can be shorter in the same proportion.

In order to more quickly obtain the adj ustment of the feeler disc 39 (Figure 4) on the desired feeler column than by the accomplishment of as many rotations of the handle 42, a coupling of the threaded rod 41 with the shaft of the undermost transport-roller 7 can be effected in the manner as illustrated in Figures 9 and 10. To the disc 57, connected with the handle 42, a toothed wheel is attached which can be coupled with a toothed wheel 59, which is mounted on the shaft of the transport-roller 7 and is movable. his toothed wheel 59 is in continuous engagement with a toothed wheel 60, coupled therewith by means of a cross-bar which through rotation of this cross-bar can be brought into engagementwith the toothed wheel 58. lVhen therefore the toothed wheel 59 is shifted, direct coupling of the toothed wheels 58 and 59 is obtained so that the transportroller 7 brings the threaded rod 41 into rotation till the desired position of the feeder disc is obtained. For the movement of the threaded rod 41 in a contrary direction the toothed wheel 60 is rotated out of the illustrated posi tion till it engages with the toothed wheel 58 so that the transport-roller 7 now rotates the threaded rod 41 in a contrary direction over the toothed wheels 59, 60, 58. During the action of the machinethe adjustment of the feeler disc is effected by one of the two couplings.

Having now described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. Apparatus for sorting punched cards including a rotating feeler roller, resiliently projected feeler pins carried by said roller, a movable plate adapted to be actuated by said pins, sorting boxes, deflectors associated with the sorting boxes, and means for transmitting movement of said plate to any one of said deflectors for actuating the latter, said plate being movable by the pins in a direction perpendicular to the axis of the latter.

2. Apparatus for sorting punched cards including a rotating feeler roller, resiliently projected feeler pins carried by said roller, a movable plate adapted to be actuated by said pins, sorting boxes, deflectors associated with the sorting boxes, and means for connecting said plate with any one of said deflectors for actuating the latter, said plate being movable by the pins in a direction perpendicular to the axis of the latter, said means connecting the plate with the deflectors in cluding a series of guide paths corresponding in number to the number of sorting boxes, a member movable in synchronism with a punched card adapted to enter said guiding paths, and means adapted to direct said member into a path associated with the sorting boxes corresponding to the punched card passing through the apparatus.

3. Apparatus for sorting punched cards including a rotating feeler roller, resiliently projected feeler pins carried by said roller, a movable plate adapted to be actuated by said pins, sorting boxes, deflectors associated With the sorting boxes, and means for connecting said plate with any one of said deflectors for actuating the latter, said plate being movable by the pins in a direction perpendicular to the axis of the latter, said means connecting the plate with the deflectors including a series of guide paths corresponding in number to the number of sorting boxes, a member movable in synchronisni with a punched card adapted to enter said guiding paths, and means adapted to direct said member into a path associated with the sorting boxes corresponding to the punched card passing through the apparatus, and means located in each path and engageable by said member for operating the associated deflector.

4. Apparatus for sorting punched cards including a rotating feeler roller, a resiliently projected feeler pins carried by said roller, a movable plate adapted to be actuated by said pins, sorting boxes, deflectors associated with the sorting boxes, and means for connecting said plate with any one of said deflectors for actuating the latter, said plate being movable by the pins in a direction perpendicular to the axis of the latter, said means connecting the plate with the deflectors including a series of guide paths corresponding to and associated with the sorting boxes, a member movable in synchronism with punched card adapted to enter said guide paths, means for directing said member into the proper guide paths, selectively operable members for actuating the directing means, a member rotated in synchronism with the feeler roller, and a member carried by the rotatable member operable coincidentally with movement of said plate to engage and operate the selectively operable members.

5. An apparatus as claimed in claim 4, characterized by the provision of means on the rotatable member for resetting the selectively operable members. I

6. An apparatus as claimed in claim 2,characterized by thegprovision of means for guiding the member movable in synchronism with apunched card in advance of its entry into one of the guide paths.

7. A characterized in that said paths terminate in proximity to the sorting boxes associated therewith.

8. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, characterized by the provision of means for moving said plate into the path of the feeler pins.

9. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, characterized by the provision of means for moving said plate into the path of the pins, said means being cardoperated.

10. Anapparatus as claimed in claim 1,

characterized by the provision of means for moving the pins axially of the roller.

11. An apparatus as claimed in claim 1, characterized by the provision of means for moving the pins axially of the roller, and means for indicating the displacement of said pins through a space corresponding with the distance between the perforations of a punched card.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification.

CORNELIS HENDRICUS STUIVENBERG.

n apparatus as claimed in claim 4, 

